couples

'It f**ks me up to see you smile.' A woman wants advice after husband's gobsmacking request.

In any marriage, there will inevitably be problems. Strange requests, even.

But when this woman’s husband asked her to get Botox, the internet just, how can we put this… lost it.

The woman posted her situation on Reddit, before asking the difficult question: “How do we rebuild what’s broken?”

Let’s start at the beginning.

See, before asking his wife to, erm, tighten her face, he began acting slightly weird around her.

“A little after Xmas he started acting really distant, telling me that something was bothering him but he didn’t want to tell me yet,” the woman explained.

“I begged him to tell me what was wrong… mind you, only after he woke me up in the middle of the night in tears. Very seriously and solemnly he looked in my eyes and quietly asked, ‘Would you consider getting Botox?'”

no sex relationship
Sorry, what? Image: Getty.
ADVERTISEMENT

Initially offended, this woman tried to shrug it off. Multiple times. But she couldn't pretend nothing was wrong when she noticed a dramatic change in her husband's behaviour.

"In my mind, every time he looked at me, he was judging me and thinking I was some hideously wrinkled creature," she said.

"Lately he’s been crying every day, saying it makes him feel better. We’ll have a nice couple of hours and then I’ll notice his mood change. Last night he brought up Botox again, albeit trying to frame it in a lighter, easy-breezy manner. I asked him, what is it specifically that bothers you so much. He said—and I quote—'It f**ks me up to see you smile or laugh.'"

Um, just no. We reject that completely.

"I told him that when I look at him, I see perfection. And why don’t I deserve the same?"

After being questioned as to whether there was perhaps a reason why her husband seemed to have quite controlling tendencies, the woman said his childhood wasn't the easiest experience for him.

"He grew up with divorced parents who were both extremely manipulative IMO (and his), so I chalk a lot of his hypercriticism to childhood trauma and insecurities," she replied.

ADVERTISEMENT

"I think he thinks he looks much younger than he actually does. He’s told me he thinks people look at us and think it’s a mismatch."

cheating husband
Why don’t I deserve the same? Image: Getty.

But ultimately, this woman admitted Botox had never been something she'd considered.

"I don’t want Botox. I’ve always wanted to age naturally and comfortably in my own skin. I love to smile and laugh, and I’ve been told my smile is one of my best attributes. But evidently my happiness is causing my husband pain."

ADVERTISEMENT

And with that, the internet declared war against her husband.

"I would never be able to look at my husband and smile again if he said that. And if you get Botox for him, he'll feel comfortable asking you for the next thing," one user wrote.

"My only advice to you is to run. This man sounds insane - crying for weeks because he wants you to get Botox is far from normal behaviour. What next? A tummy tuck? Boob lift? You deserve someone who looks at you like the sun shines out of you, not someone who wakes up in the night sobbing because he spotted a wrinkle," said another.

"Honestly, what he is doing sounds like manipulation/emotional abuse."

Along with a copious number of supportive responses, people also had a few doubts about the legitimacy of this woman's story.

"No, this cannot be real. Another troll post imo," someone said.

"I find this hard to believe. Assuming it's true, why are you still married to this guy?"

Situations like these are often more complicated than what appears solely on the surface. Regardless, we hope this husband and wife figure it out - whether that be together as a couple or as individuals.

How would you handle this situation? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.